Gov. Butch Otter (R) is expected to select Sen. Larry Craig’s (R) replacement from among six individuals, his spokesman Jon Hanian said Monday.

The list of names, compiled by Otter, includes Lt. Gov. Jim Risch (R); state Attorney General Lawrence Wasden (R); former state Attorney General David Leroy (R); state Sen. Michael Jorgensen; state Sen. John McGee (R); and former state Sen. Dane Watkins (R). Rep. Mike Simpson (R) recently removed himself from consideration.

“The governor is considering each of those folks as a possible replacement,” Hanian said.

Otter is planning to interview all of those under consideration after he returns from a vacation that was postponed first by fires that were raging in Idaho and then by the Craig affair. The governor is expected to be back at work next week.

Craig is expected to resign on Sept. 30 as part of the fallout from his arrest in a Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport bathroom and subsequent guilty plea on a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge. Craig contends he did nothing wrong, and on Monday his lawyers submitted a motion to have his guilty plea withdrawn.

— David M. Drucker